HEALTH INSURANCE has been made mandatory for foreigners aged 50 years and above seeking a long-term stay in Thailand, although it is not being enforced.
The insurance policy must offer up to Bt40,000 coverage for outpatient treatment and up to Bt400,000 for inpatient treatment.
This is one of the measures the government has introduced to ease the financial burden placed on state hospitals by foreigners, many of whom have not paid for treatment.
What if you can’t get travel insurance. What do you do?
Keep reading…
“The Cabinet has already approved the new rule,” Health Service Support Department director-general Nattawuth Prasert-siripong revealed yesterday….
Source: thaiexaminer.com
My thought on mandatory travel insurance for people getting a retirement visa
I thought the 800k baht in the bank was supposed to be that insurance money. Since most nationals with a retirement visa will require 800k or about $25,000 USD at least 3 months in a bank before applying. 800,000 baht or $25,000 USD is a lot of money even for westerners; it is even more for the average Thais
I thought 800,000 baht was enough to cover any emergency medical while in Thailand. Because I watched a young western guy, who claimed he got into a motorbike accident with drunken Thais. He had to stay in the hospital for about one week, with multiple broken bones including a broken jaw. That lifesaving medical care cost him about 300,000 baht, about $10,000 USD. If you need a life-changing surgery like a heart bypass, that’s about 400,000 baht in a government hospital and about 600,000 to 1,000,000 baht in a private hospital. If you have 800,000 baht, it’s enough for lifesaving surgery in Thailand for most people.
I don’t understand why they have to add mandatory health insurance now, as many western nationals require to have 800k baht in their bank account.
Why are Thai Immigration adding travel insurance to people with a retirement visa?
The hospital last year spent 1.3 million baht treating 17 penniless foreigners. It was the third consecutive year that the hospital had logged unpaid bills.
The hospital bore costs of more than 1.2 million baht in 2009 for 22 foreign patients, a 50% rise from the 800,000 baht in costs to treat 17 patients in 2008, the centre said.
“These patients are mostly European men,” the source said. “They didn’t take out health insurance. They renew their visas every year and have no savings.”
Source: Bangkokpost.com
Each foreign national seeking the renewal of his or her retirement visa must have at least 800,000 baht in their bank account or show they have earnings of at least 65,000 baht a month. However, some of them produced fake financial statements to have their visas renewed.
The source said foreigners’ savings often were quickly used up on entertainment and women. Some who wanted to build families in Phuket married Thai women who later took off with their money.
In a lot of cases, the patients require long-term treatment for chronic illnesses such as alcoholism and liver and heart diseases.
The source said the government should review its policy and focus on quality tourism.
Is Thailand still appealing as a retirement destination?
So my question to people over 50 years old. Is Thailand still appealing to you as a retirement destination? Or is all these changes starting to turn you off? Leave you’re thought below.
I’m sick of people saying it’s all because of the head of Thai Immigration, who came in and changed or enforced the policy. I believe it’s not all because of that. It’s foreigners who are using fake financial statements to have their visas renewed. Also, foreigners don’t have money to pay their hospital bills. Naïve foreigners who buy a home or land, then give it to their Thai spouse when they would never do it in their home country.
If you are thinking of retiring in Thailand and you don’t have 800k baht or about $25,000 USD to deposit in a bank. You can’t afford travel insurance. Don’t consider retiring here. Thailand wants “quality tourists” and retirees, not the dummies spending on women and lost everything.
Some people think Thailand owes them something, and their visa should be free for westerners. I think that is wrong because some foreigners have this entitlement mindset and start complaining as Thailand owes them something.
No one will retire in Thailand
If you think there are too many new visa rule changes and it is getting harder to stay in Thailand long-term. I agree, and it’s also hard to keep up with all the changes.
I understand people frustrations because I would not be here in Thailand if I need a visa. I would only stay for a few weeks, and this website keyframe5.com would never exist.
If you think all these visa changes will destroy the tourism industry or there will be no more people travelling to Thailand. It is probably more true for people using a retirement visa, but the truth is. There are more and more people or tourists coming each year. For one, there are Chinese. The Chinese will replace you.
